The sick building syndrome

Health & You

Do you suffer from headache, nausea, throat or eye irritation in office? It may be possible that the building where you spend the better part of the day is sick, and you are suffering from certain "non-specific" symptoms, broadly known as the "sick building syndrome".

Slowly, India's corporate inc is waking up to this infliction on their workers' health and productivity.

Noida-based Jubilant Organosys hired Paharpur Business Centre (PBC) some time ago to investigate the quality of air at its head office.

"We wanted to know what the air quality in our office is as it's a matter of occupational health," says Mahua Banerjee De, manager, environment health & safety, Jubilant Organosys.

Meanwhile, software company Hughes Software conducts an indoor air quality survey every two-and-a-half years.

"When we are in office, we think we are safe from the pollution outside. In fact, in a closed building environment where there is a centralised AC system, the quality of the air inside can be worse than the air outside. There's a proportion of fresh air that has to be maintained in a building," says Champak Roy, manager of PBC's indoor air consultancy division - CleanAir.

With promises to bring "mountain fresh air" to your office premises, CleanAir, as part of a complete package, surveys and analyses indoor air samples and structural features of a building. Besides, it offers recommendations on how to improve air quality in a building.

Launched in 2000, the division tests the indoor air quality on five parameters "" suspended particulate matter, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur oxide and nitrous oxide.

With no standard for indoor air quality laid by pollution control boards in the country, the company conforms to the guidelines laid down by ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineer).

Monitoring indoor air quality of a building could take up an entire day, and about three days to analyse the samples.

Costs vary "" a 10-floor building could cost Rs 14,000, whereas a small office of 1,500 sq feet would cost Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000.

CleanAir's clients include Dabur India, Ikea Trading, Ballarpur Industries, Jai Bharat Maruti Ltd and Xansa Ltd.

"People usually think that they stay in an office for eight hours and then they're out. What we try to convince them is that they are spending a third of their day in office and it's important to build the body's resistance in those hours," says Roy.